A clip having a head portion and a leg portion is used, for example, in fastening a mountable member such as a trim board to a support member such as a body panel of a motor vehicle. For example, the mountable member has a mounting seat to which the head portion of the clip is assembled. The head portion of the clip is assembled to the mounting seat, and the leg portion is inserted in a mounting hole in the support member whereby the mountable member is fastened to the support member via the clip.
Meanwhile, there may be unavoidable manufacturing dimension errors between mountable members and support members. When a mountable member is a longitudinally elongated part such as a side spoiler, dimensional variation becomes relatively large due to thermal expansion. Thus, clips are assembled to mounting seats with such a slight play as to allow them to be shifted for positional adjustment, so that respective leg portions of the clips can be inserted into corresponding mounting holes in the support member.
However, when the positions of the clips vary within a range defined by the play, the registration of the leg portions with the corresponding mounting hole becomes difficult in inserting the leg portions in the mounting holes, and the assembling efficiency is deteriorated.
Thus, the applicant (in US, assignee) of this patent application has proposed a construction provided with a centering action which moves leg portions of clips to centers of corresponding mounting seats while permitting the individual clips to have a slight play. Patent Literature 1 discloses a mounting construction for mounting a part with a mounting seat which opens in one side on a panel by use of a clip. The clip includes two flanges. A pair of engagement grooves having a V-shape is formed symmetrically on a seat surface side of the mounting seat. A pair of elastic arms having a projection is formed on either of the two flanges so as to slidably engage with the engagement grooves. The respective projections on the elastic arms are guided to central portions at bends of the corresponding V-shaped engagement grooves.
In that construction, the projections on the elastic arms of the clips enter the V-shaped engagement grooves on the mounting seat to be held therein so as to be guided to the central portions at the bends of the engagement grooves. When the elastic arms are deflected by an external force to thereby force the clips out of the central positions thereof, the projections perform a cam-like movement within the corresponding engagement grooves by an elastic restoring force of the elastic arms to thereby center the clips back in their original positions.